'UK should follow Wales' lead on organ donation'

A woman who was hours from death waiting for a liver transplant wants other UK nations to follow Wales' lead on presumed organ donation consent.

Ellie Lacey, 31, was diagnosed with sudden and unexplained liver failure in 2016 and was told a transplant was her only hope of survival.

A worldwide search was started to find one and she eventually had her operation last January.

She is urging families to talk openly about their organ donation wishes.

Adults in Wales are presumed to have consented to organ donation unless they have opted out, while ministers in Scotland and England are also considering moving to a similar system.

Mrs Lacey, from Cardiff, said her experience had made her even more convinced it was the right move.

"Would not it be amazing if the rest of the UK would follow Wales' lead?" she said.

But after 21 families denied consent for organs to be given or did not support deemed consent in 2016-17, Mrs Lacey said it was "so important to have that conversation, to make sure your family know what to do in that moment of crisis".

The keen runner and cyclist went from being a "bit tired" to needing a transplant in weeks.

At first she put her tiredness down to a combination of months of work and travelling as she and her husband, Paul, had cycled across Europe, got married in Slovenia and run a charity event in Uganda.

But her fitness had masked the seriousness of her condition and, at first, she was diagnosed with a virus.

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